There are no small pitching decisions in October. Patience often is rewarded when the playoffs roll around, but only the wisest are able to exhibit it.
This October, Tony La Russa and Willie Randolph qualify. Those managers made decisions that paid big dividends for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, respectively.
La Russa showed nerves of steel last Sunday, refusing to turn to the defending Cy Young Award winner, Chris Carpenter, to try to bail him out of a nightmarish position. The Cardinals had lost eight of their last 11 games, creating the specter of a possible one-game playoff against the Houston Astros for the National League Central title.
Carpenter, who had made his 32nd start of the season the Tuesday before, was available to start the last scheduled game of the season, but La Russa went with rookie Anthony Reyes instead. He knew the worst impact of a loss would be St. Louis would have to play a makeup game Monday against the Giants, with a win avoiding a trip to Houston for a Tuesday playoff.
The Cardinals lost Sunday, but La Russa won his gamble when Atlanta beat Houston, giving St. Louis the Central title. Carpenter, with two extra days of rest, shut down San Diego in Game 1 of the first round and is scheduled to start Game 4 on Sunday.
Randolph found himself making some numbing decisions for Game 1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. After Orlando Hernandez got hurt, Randolph was left with three choices: Tom Glavine, who would have been working on short rest; Jose Lima, the ultimate wild card, or John Maine, who had pitched well down the stretch but had made only 24 major-league starts.
Maine got the call over the 40-year-old Glavine. Both came through for Randolph, pitching well enough for the Mets’ deep bullpen to take over and help New York capture its first-round series.
Jim Leyland was the one guy who flinched under the strain of October. The Detroit manager was so desperate for the Tigers to advance as AL Central champs, not the wild card, that he risked compromising his chances against the New York Yankees.
When Kansas City recovered from a 6-0 deficit, Leyland wound up using starter Kenny Rogers out of the bullpen and his closer, Todd Jones, for 2 2/3 innings in the final game of the season. Those moves failed to stop the Royals from the 12-inning victory that handed Minnesota the Central title, and it put left-hander Nate Robertson (5-8, 4.44 ERA in the second half) in line for two ALDS starts. Leyland avoided that scenario when the Tigers advanced Saturday.
Changing it up
Whether Barry Bonds stays or goes (most likely into retirement), the San Francisco Giants figure to be the most changed team in the majors next spring. They are going to have a new manager, with Felipe Alou gone and probably also will be without Jason Schmidt, Moises Alou and Ray Durham, who are all free agents.
“Older and experienced hasn’t worked,” general manager Brian Sabean said. “By going down that path and finishing below .500 and finishing third, and being extremely disappointed, and knowing the fans have a lot invested in this, it’s incumbent on us to put the best possible team on the field after the last two years.”
The rhetoric has begun between Giants owner Peter Magowan and Bonds, making it anyone’s guess whether they will work out a contract that allows Bonds to continue his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s career home run record. Magowan says it will be a baseball decision and not a marketing one, and it’s tough to commit a huge salary to an aging slugger with a history of injuries.
Bonds, who averaged $18 million per season over his latest five-year contract, told the San Jose Mercury News he won’t take a contract built around incentive clauses “ever, ever, ever.” He told MLB.com if Magowan wants him to take a put cut, he will “be glad to stay home.”
Moises Alou seemed miffed at season’s end about his father’s treatment from the front office, but it’s hard to know what more he could have expected. The elder Alou, a force during his early years in Montreal, turned into a caretaker before leaving the Expos and seemed like little more with the Giants.
Taking the fall
These days, there are no worse losers in the majors than the Red Sox. Club President Larry Lucchino and GM Theo Epstein sacked Grady Little after the Game 7 loss to the Yankees in 2003 and already are making life uncomfortable for Terry Francona only two years after he helped end the Curse of the Bambino.
Francona’s coaching staff took a big hit after the Red Sox missed the playoffs, with pitching coach Dave Wallace and hitting coach Ron Jackson getting their walking papers.
“I have to believe [Francona] had nothing to do with it,” Wallace said. “He said he wanted me.”
Wallace’s firing comes after a year in which he almost died with a staph infection after hip-replacement surgery. He and Al Nipper split the role this season, but Wallace had assumed he would be back in charge in 2007.
Wallace told the Boston Globe he asked Epstein if his health was the reason for dismissal and was told that it wasn’t.
“Theo said, `[Francona] wants you, the players want you,'” Wallace said. “I said, `Theo, don’t insult my intelligence and say you need to go in a different direction.’ So instead he said they needed a new environment.”
The second-half slide that took the Red Sox out of the playoffs was heavily affected by injuries, especially catcher Jason Varitek’s knee injury. Jackson was popular in the clubhouse and enjoyed a strong working relationship with David Ortiz but sometimes didn’t seem on the same page as Francona.
After Ortiz had the two-homer game that allowed him to break Jimmie Foxx’s club record for single-season home runs, he presented a bat to Jackson.
“That meant a lot to me,” Jackson said. “He signed it, `To the best batting coach around.'”
Number of the week
Jonathan Papelbon’s 0.92 ERA in 68 1/3 innings was the best by a Red Sox pitcher working at least 50 innings since Dutch Leonard had an 0.96 ERA for 224 2/3 innings in 1914.
Whispers
Jon Daniels, who still hasn’t turned 30, showed surprising toughness by recommending Buck Showalter’s firing to Rangers owner Tom Hicks. Showalter, who lived just down the block from Hicks, is owed more than $5 million. Longtime hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo would like his shot at managing the Rangers. Ron Washington, Oakland’s third-base coach, has several supporters in the Texas organization. . . . There is some concern about how Varitek will perform in the two years left on his Boston deal as he hit only .213 after coming off the disabled list Sept. 3. . . . Bill Hall is expected to be a full-time outfielder for the Brewers next year, another sign they will shop Geoff Jenkins. Hall finished an incredible year as a super sub with 35 homers. . . . There were six ultimate warriors this season. The guys who played all 162 games: Juan Pierre, Jeff Francoeur, Grady Sizemore, Miguel Tejada, Mark Teixeira and Michael Young.
The last word
“I think it’s true for any player that they don’t want to be on a losing team. But even a winning team can’t just win and not gain anything in the process. So the question is, whether you’re a team that’s winning or losing, are you gaining? Are you growing?”–Ichiro Suzuki, who is expected to pursue a contract extension with Seattle rather than a trade.
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